IPv6 LAN IPv4 WAN + Airport Extreme?

[panjandrum]

Long story short, I'm embarrassed to say that this is the first time I've really delved into IPv6. Our ISP only offers IPv4, and our school network was around 200 total devices. That's the largest network I support, so there simply hasn't been any pressing reason to worry about it yet.

But, enter a large donation of 25 Mac Pro 4,1 (now 5,1, of course!) machines, and add a few staff devices, and suddenly we are really pushing the IPv4 address limit so I figured I would start looking into implementing IPv6 on the LAN and setting at least a subset of devices into an IPv6 only mode so they don't eat-up our IPv4 addresses.

I would prefer to continue utilizing our existing primary router, an Airport Extreme, since it integrates so well with Mac OS X Server, but if it won't work, it won't work, so feel free to suggest alternatives.

Setting up the tunneling was fairly straight-forward, as was getting a test Mac to connect via IPv6 with IPv4 disabled.

I set up IPv6 on the AE router to connect "Automatically" and the IPv6 Mode to "Tunnel" and *bang*, it sort of works. Router has 7.6.8 firmware (latest available for that model).

However, a LOT of domains won't resolve. Many will, but many won't. Googling around, it appears that this is a common issue.

So I thought I would ask here before I spend untold hours trying circumvent either a) my own ignorance or b) a function that simply won't work as intended.

Has anyone had luck getting the Tunneling on AE routers to be reliable? If so, how did you make it work? (Remember, I want to totally disable IPv4 on at least a subset of devices on the LAN).

Thanks for any tips you may have!

 

[belvdr]

I had a 4th gen AEand its IPv6 support was spotty. I have had much better usability for a Ubiquiti EdgeRouter.

I must ask, are you using private IP addresses internally. If so, how are you running low?

 

[Mikael H]

Long story short, I'm embarrassed to say that this is the first time I've really delved into IPv6. Our ISP only offers IPv4, and our school network was around 200 total devices. That's the largest network I support, so there simply hasn't been any pressing reason to worry about it yet.

But, enter a large donation of 25 Mac Pro 4,1 (now 5,1, of course!) machines, and add a few staff devices, and suddenly we are really pushing the IPv4 address limit so I figured I would start looking into implementing IPv6 on the LAN and setting at least a subset of devices into an IPv6 only mode so they don't eat-up our IPv4 addresses.

I would prefer to continue utilizing our existing primary router, an Airport Extreme, since it integrates so well with Mac OS X Server, but if it won't work, it won't work, so feel free to suggest alternatives.

Setting up the tunneling was fairly straight-forward, as was getting a test Mac to connect via IPv6 with IPv4 disabled.

I set up IPv6 on the AE router to connect "Automatically" and the IPv6 Mode to "Tunnel" and *bang*, it sort of works. Router has 7.6.8 firmware (latest available for that model).

However, a LOT of domains won't resolve. Many will, but many won't. Googling around, it appears that this is a common issue.

So I thought I would ask here before I spend untold hours trying circumvent either a) my own ignorance or b) a function that simply won't work as intended.

Has anyone had luck getting the Tunneling on AE routers to be reliable? If so, how did you make it work? (Remember, I want to totally disable IPv4 on at least a subset of devices on the LAN).

Thanks for any tips you may have!

IPv4 is far from being a bottleneck with only a couple of hundred local devices. Add more subnets (may require more customizable routers) or change to a less restrictive netmask. Here is a good place to start: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPv4_subnetting_reference

Switching from an address scheme with an 24-bit netmask (255.255.255.0) to one with a 16-bit netmask (255.255.0.0) lets you address more than 65000 additional devices. That should hold you for a while. But read up a bit on the design part first, or have someone with know-how give you some hints along the way.

 

[panjandrum]

Thanks! I appreciate the advice. I simply didn't expect to ever encounter this issue, so didn't bother to do any advance research into the matter. You've given me a couple good places to start. I'm still inclined to try to figure out an IPv6 solution, since supposedly that's the ultimate way forward, but I'm not averse to other solutions.

belvdr: Which specific Ubiquiti EdgeRouter have you been using?

 

[belvdr]

belvdr: Which specific Ubiquiti EdgeRouter have you been using?

I have the EdgeRouter Lite 3 port. I opted for this for its performance over the ERX. I have been more than happy with it for the cost. I am able to take the IPv6 subnet given to it by the ISP and split it for each of my LANs internally.